27-D1 District Cabinet Meeting - January 22, 2023 - Virtual
Sharing the Service
Minutes
Lion Al Johnson, DG, opened our meeting at 1:01pm with the Pledge of Allegiance. There were 33 members present on our ZOOM call today.
Lion Jeff Winkler spoke on behalf of the Council of Governors, stressing that Membership Drives are important. Encourage potential members to join you in various service projects to see, in part, what Lions is all about. It will have a positive impact for them.
Lion Ron Wright gave a short blessing before we began.
Lion Al shared that the leadership of our district is falling into place nicely and that is key to making our organization successful. Faculty Development Institute (FDI) will come to our state to train a minimum of 2 Lions to help train them as leaders. Also, Lion Al learned at the Council of Governors meeting that we must continue sending donations to the LCIF Foundation. We need to support them in order for them to continue supporting our clubs.
Lion Tony Sobczak reported on behalf of GAT. Applications for Lion of the Year and Service Project of the Year are due by February 15th. Faculty Development Institute is being held on April 28th at the Holiday Inn in Stevens Point and costs $150. In order to attend you must be a member in good standing and have not participated in an FDI within the last 5 years. Deadline is March 3rd.
Lion Adam Crowson reported that membership for the District is +16.
Lion Bill Severson, Treasurer, Reported that finances are good. You can look on our website for the report. Murder Mystery Dinner is a “go” at Convention as they did receive their check. Marriott has our deposit, so we can keep going with plans. A bill for dues was sent out to everyone. Delegate forms will be sent out to Presidents & Secretaries via email to allow for voting at Convention.
Lion Vicki Sobczak, Secretary, reported that committee reports and minutes of last Cabinet Meeting are posted on the website.
Lion Dan Marshall, LCIF District Coordinator, reported that the fund raising for LCIF had collected over $3,000 in the first half of the year, which is more than last year, with the current total being at $19,549. This has been collected from 29 clubs, which is almost 50% of our District. There is a fund raising effort being done on the LCIF Facebook page and individuals can use it on their own page to raise funds, like requesting people make a donation for your birthday. Make it known that you donated money, too, on your own Facebook page.
ZONE CHAIR REPORTS
Lion Stacy Martin encouraged her clubs to get registered for District Convention.
Lion Bill Hustad has meetings coming up and will be passing Convention information along to them.
Lion Julie Baglama along with Lion Jill Kietzke worked at the HyVee Pharmacy offering free A1-C testing; it was very successful. Madison Evening Lions will be leading a Scavenger Hunt for Diabetes at Convention. She is also encouraging clubs to get to Convention.
Lion Tim Meier is focusing on Lion of the Year Award, Service Project of the Year Award and Convention at his club visits.
Lion Steve Handel has his next Zone meeting next week.
Lion Pat Parrish inducted a new member at the Waunakee Lions Club. He also will be attending the Groundhog Open January 28 which is officiated by the Sun Prairie Lions Club. Lions Mike & Tara Vraniak have joined the Sun Prairie Lions Club, coming from the recently folded Token Creek Club.
Lion Ron Wright has been visiting his clubs. Arlington just held their annual auction yesterday. Lake WI had their Eskimo Open. He also went to see the Pardeeville Club and Portage Club.
(end of Zone Chair reports)
GMA Tammy Rockenbach reported that 52 clubs have turned in Member Surveys for the Growing Happy Lions program. 33 clubs have signed up for SWOT Analysis and 2 clubs want help with the next steps. On Sunday, February 19 from 3-5pm there is going to be a ZOOM Workshop to walk through the SWOT analysis and what steps can be taken with their club.
Lion Tammy went on to report that the USA/Canada Lions Leadership Forum is in Reno, NV September 21-23. It is a very inspirational event packed with 80 seminars and inspirational speakers: Floyd Smith, Donna Hartley, Dr. Patti Hill and Striker Corbin.
Lion Cindy Herbst from Restoring Hope Transplant House reported that they’ve been very busy! They have had a substantial increase in room needs from last year; 74 rooms needed in 2022 and 123 rooms needed thus far in 2023! Many patients are in serious debt and may have to sleep in their cars before getting into RHTH. She is looking forward to the possibility of Fall Construction. They’ve had to raise the room rate this year from $45/day to $55/day. They really need big donations! The beauty of RHTH is that they have no theft, no hunger and people cherish what they have in the house and the comradery they have with other transplant patients.
Lion Milo Parker reported on eye screenings and the training session that will be held at Convention. He wants to focus on camera proficiency. There will be a UW Pediatric Clinician present to help answer questions. Getting the kids screened is critical; in the WI Dells school district over 400 kids were screened with 20% referrals! A big question is how are our referrals being followed up on? There seems to be a bigger referral rate than actual kids getting the follow-up that they need. How can we get our cameras into clinics and have them be used as “best practice?” His take-away message is simply that we need to keep finding ways to screen kids. How can we get to home-schooled kids? We can use both camera screenings and chart readings.
Lion John Elvekrog reported on WI Lions Foundation (WLF). They are working on making improvements at camp. There will be Raffle Tickets for sale, again. Deer hides were UP this year!! This year will be the 26th Annual Birch-Sturm Golf Outing on July 22nd . John also had some comments about eye screening. How many of the kids who need glasses actually end up getting the glasses? Perhaps we could have an optometrist on-site at our screenings to get a final reading and do a better job at actually getting kids the glasses they need.
Erica Singley reported on behalf of Lions Eye Bank of WI. The plan for this year is to have the transporters meet quarterly with Adam Crowson. The Eye Bank has a donor wall which highlights donation success. Tours are again available on Fridays and Saturdays. Contact Adam Crowson to set that up. The Lions Eye Bank of Wisconsin and Anderson & Shapiro Eye Care will host a health fair on Saturday, April 15, 2023, at 1200 John Q Hammons Drive, Suite 100, Madison, WI. Anderson & Shapiro and the Lions of Wisconsin will provide free vision screening and eyeglass fitting, and Elite Hearing Center will provide free hearing tests.
On May 10th from 4-5pm there will be a training for transporters.
The LEBW has already received $11,760 in donations this year, working towards a goal of $23,000.
Lion Rick Daluge added that the gardens around the Eye Bank are slowly coming to fruition.
Starting in July there will be a new Chair Person sitting on the Eye Bank Board.
Lion Guy Gryphan reported on the district’s LEO clubs. Marshall LEOs had 15 members help with the holiday meals and the Deerfield club is working on reorganizing their club. Guy has reached out to the Janesville School for the Blind to see if they have any interest in forming a LEO club. One Lion asked Guy if it was possible to get all LEO clubs to report on their respective websites; they can contact Lion Bruce Voight for help on that.
YOUTH EXCHANGE
Crystal Riniker has been working with Ben August on the YE to learn the ropes and take over for Lion Ben when he bows out next year. Currently she is looking for another possible camp to work with the students. Camp Vista is an option but it is more expensive. There are 7 interested students from 4 countries who are applying to come to the US. There are only 2 Wisconsin youth participating this year; one is going to France and one is going to Italy. They are both receiving an $800 scholarship. Fund raising will consist of soliciting Lions clubs.
Exciting News… Lion Jim Klubertanz has volunteered to be 2nd VDG!
Lion John Jenson reported on Convention. Everything is coming together. The website for registrations is OPEN. The committee will meet again on February 15th at the Marriott. Registration will be at the Convention Center entrance. Cabinet members who are coming to the fish dinner should sign up ahead of time so they know how many people to cook for.
Lion Bill Clausius is in charge of getting ads for the Convention Booklet. Get your ads in now to help pay for the booklet. Deadline is February 4th. Ads should be submitted to Lion Adam Crowson.
Door prizes can be brought to the Convention when you get there. They do not need to arrive ahead of time.
Lion Bob Faliveno reported that there will be eye screening available for adults.
Lion Al Johnson, DG, hailed a big Thank You to everyone for coming and sharing the information you have.
Lion Bill Hustad had a finishing comment, asking if the Zone Chairs will receive their packets of information to take on their next visits. Lion Tony Sobczak said, “Yes, he’s working on it now, including an agenda.”
Lion Adam Crowson moved to adjourn; Lion Tony Sobczak second.
Meeting adjourned at 2:13pm
Respectfully submitted,
Lion Vicki Sobczak
Cabinet Secretary
Reports:
October Cabinet Meeting Minutes
Treasurers Report - Administration (Excel)
Treasurers Report - Activities (Excel)
Treasurers Report-Convention Budget (Excel)
Children's Vision Committee Report (pdf)
Children's Vision Screening Reporting Form (Excel)
Children's Vision Screening Summary
Global Membership Team Report
Growing Happy Lions GMA Report (pdf)
Growing Happy Lions Planning Session Flyer (pdf)
Pediatric Cancer Initiative Report
Region 2 Zone 2 Report
Restoring Hope Transplant House Report (pdf)
Serving As DG (pdf)
USA Canada Forum Report
Wisconsin Lions Foundation Report
Wisconsin Lions Foundation Who's Who (pdf)
Youth Exchange Report (pdf)
Note: some reports are PDF format. You may download the most recent free Adobe PDF reader at Adobe.